Finfluencer Akshat Shrivastava rekindled the fintech versus banks debate as Paytm tries wriggle out the crisis triggered by the RBI's directive on the fintech's lending arm to stop accepting deposits in its accounts or the popular digital wallet after Feb 29.
"Zomato is not a threat to banks. But PayTM is (or was). That explains why Zomato isn't trying hard to become a typical FinTech player," Shrivastava posted on X.
The RBI had recently granted a payment aggregator (PA) license to Zomato Payments Private Limited, the subsidiary of food delivery platform Zomato, allowing the firm to facilitate ecommerce transactions through its platform.
Payment aggregators facilitate e-commerce websites, mobile apps, and merchants to accept payment instruments from customers for their transactions, without the need for merchants to create their own payment interface.
Shrivastava said Zomato is competing against the likes of "Gpay, not Banks. (They will facilitate e-commerce transaction, not sell Mutual Funds or insurance)".
The post had many split. "You are making it sound like the banks pressured RBI to shut down PayTM. RBI has audit reports where they raised questions on some transactions," wrote on user as response to the post.
Also read: Paytm confirms resignation of Manju Agarwal from PPB board
The RBI said its crackdown on Paytm Payments Bank’s business was forced by persistent non-compliance of norms. “The regulatory actions were taken after giving the firm sufficient time to comply,” RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J said at a press conference following the monetary policy review today.
Without naming Paytm, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the regulatory action was driven by a “lack of compliance”.